Dream, When You're Feeling Blue
by OsakaBomb
Summary: Suri finds another vault while exploring in the Capital Wasteland.


Suri walked quickly down the ramped remains of the highway road, Arefu slowly disappearing behind her. She made a brief stop in the settlement to check on Ian and see how was doing. After all that happened to him, she imagined it couldn't be easy having to live back in the place where it all started. He seemed to be doing okay, though. For that, Suri was glad. She stepped off the last inch of the collapsed road and looked out over the wasteland.

There was still much of the wasteland she had yet to see. The map on her Pip-Boy had only places marked around the Megaton and a small amount places around Arefu. She went for the nearest area with no locations marked on her map and began heading southeast. A wind swept past Suri and she shivered. The day felt colder than what is usual for the wasteland.

As she got further from Arefu, she wandered into a more sparsely populated area. Suri could see many buildings in the distance, but nothing in the immediate area. She wandered by the remains of what looked like an ordinary house. The sides were stripped bare, leaving nothing to hide. She looked up at the front of the house. A small sign was hanging out front, the only thing that was mostly intact. Suri narrowed her eyes, only barely able to make out what was written on the sign. The chipped and aged words read _'Kaelyn's Bed & Breakfast.'_

Suri stepped inside the house. The first floor held nothing, other than piles of wood and stone. A bathtub cracked down the middle lay in a far corner of the house. Seeing nothing, Suri walked up to the second floor of the house. When she reached the upper floor, Suri froze and stared.

Above the house, hanging from the roof was a butchered corpse. The head was missing as well as a leg. It was hanging crudely from metal hooks that were stuck into the places where the limbs used to be. Blood was still dripping from them. A fresh kill. The standard sign of a raider camp. Suri wasted no time. They were gone, but they could be back at any time. She began to make her way back down the stairs

As she was leaving the house, she heard voices coming from over the hill behind her. She looked briefly over her shoulder. She only caught a glimpse of them, but she knew they were the raiders that decided to hole up here. There seven of them. She wouldn't be able to take them all. She quickened her pace, but keeping low so as not to be seen. There was another hill ahead of her. She moved up it.

When she got to the downward slope on the other side, she carefully began to make her way down. The slope was steep. A part of the ground shifted and Suri lost her footing. She was sent tumbling down the slope and only stopped when she hit her back against a large rock sitting nearby. Her head hit the back of it. She winced, moving her hand to the back of her head. She looked at her palm. No sign of blood. At most, she would get a goose egg. She suddenly stopped, and listened. The sound of her fall might have attracted the raiders. She quickly crawled to the opposite side of the rock, hiding herself from anyone's view.

At first, she heard nothing. She stayed hidden for a few moments longer. She suddenly heard footsteps approaching. They stopped at the top of the hill. "Hey!" the voice called out. "You still down there? Huh? Come on out!"

Suri remained still, holding her breath. She pushed herself up further against the rock. If she took a shot at him, it would surely attract all the others. She'd be cornered against seven of them. She waited.

"Hey! Come on!" the raider shouted again. A large stone came flying down. It flew past Suri's head and crashed down on the ground, almost hitting her in the ankle. She kept silent. She heard the raider take a single footstep, starting down the slope. For a moment, her heart stopped, before starting again with an erratic rhythm.

"Hey! What are you doing?" a voice called out from behind them both. "Quit fuckin' around and get back here!"

There was a pause. For a moment, it sounded as though the raider took another step forward. But soon the footsteps clearly were retreating, moving back towards the camp they'd set up. The moment they were gone, Suri exhaled quickly. She sat for a moment, calming her nerves. She rested her head on her knees, trying to gain control of her breathing. When she did, she raised her head slowly. She froze again.

Before was a wooden door, built into the side of the face of a rock on the other side of the small looked exactly like the one she went through when escaped from Vault 101. Suri stood up, quietly making her way to the door. She wondered if she'd truly discovered another vault. Maybe another group of people unable to leave like she used to be. She looked back, checking for any of the raiders. She slowly opened the door and moved inside.

The familiar sense of place grew stronger as she looked down the stone tunnel, leading to the giant vault door. It was identical to the one for Vault 101, except it was rusted with age and had "106" printed on the center of the door. She approached the door, and went to the switch on the side. She wondered what she would find in here. She wondered what kind of people she would find in here, if there were any people at all. She pressed the switch on the control panel and stepped back. The familiar metal clanks, winding gears and piercing screech of metal twisting sounded in her ears as the door slowly opened. When the door retreated to the ceiling, she stepped through.

The room beyond the door was empty. Like the door, the walls were the same aged color. None of the lights were on, and many of the tables in the area were overturned. Chairs on theirs, broken computer terminals and various papers were scattered all over the ground. If anyone was still living here, it wasn't in the same way people in Vault 101 were. Suri continued on into the next door.She passed through the door, moving into the main hallway of the vault. Suri briefly marveled at how the layout was almost exactly like the one in her vault. She walked down the hall, peeking into different rooms. Most of them seemed like offices or lounge areas, but there was barely anything in them now. A few them were filled primarily with tipped over desks, lockers and chairs.

However, in one of the rooms she spied a terminal sitting on top of an upright desk through the window. She walked through the already open door and sat down at the desk in front of the terminal. The terminal was broken, like all the others. She noticed a pistol lying on the desk, near the terminal. Underneath it was a note. She slid the note out from under the pistol and read it:

_Reality can be rough. There's a lot of terrible things out there. Bad things happen to good people, you know? It's unfair. At least, that's what I thought. But it's different now. The solution is so simple! You just need to breathe deep. That's all I did. And dream. Just dream. Dream, when you feel the blue. _

Suri stared long at the note. Something about it just seemed off. What kind of vault was this place? She set the note down back on the desk. When she looked up, she was confronted with the sight of a man standing in the doorway. He wasn't moving. He was simply staring, without speaking a word. Suri could just make out the yellow trim of a vault jumpsuit. She noticed he was wielding a knife in his hand. Before she was able to move, the man rushed at her. Suri stood up, throwing herself out of the chair. The chair crashed against the wall as she moved to the side, grabbing the pistol along the way. The man leapt over the desk and crashing the floor.

The man tossed the knife into his other hand and charged at Suri again. He was swinging the knife wildly through the air. She felt the tip of the knife scratch at the leather of her coat, almost cutting her. He lunged, pushing her down. She hit the ground hard, pain shooting up through her back. With an almost feral scream, the man swung the knife down. In her panic, Suri raised the pistol and fired. The bullet pierced through the man's chest, going through his heart. He fell at Suri's side in an instant. Suri quickly scrambled to her feet, all the while. trying to comprehend what just happened.

That was when she noticed the taste in the air. The smell. She didn't know how else to describe to herself. She couldn't even say what it was exactly. There was just a different taste and smell. One you could sense. it made her feel dizzy. Light-headed. But in a way that felt welcoming. Suri didn't understand the feeling, but a small part of it didn't want it to go away. She left the room, deciding she should continue on and explore more of the vault. She kept the gun with her, just in case there were more people like the man she just saw.

She moved down the hall, listening for any sounds that might indicate another person in the vault. She was relieved to hear nothing. Moving down the hall, Suri found another door in the very end. The light of the sign above it still glowed with life. The words "LIVING QUARTERS" were on the sign in bold, black letters. Suri hit the the switch to open the door and passed through. Beyond the door was a staircase, leading down to the living quarters themselves. When she reached the bottom of the steps, she peeked out cautiously. It seemed empty, and she heard no sounds to suggest otherwise. She stepped out into the open.

It happened suddenly. In the blink of an eye, her vision was clouded over with the color blue. A deep haze that encompassed everything. Suri looked down at her hands. Blue. She briefly noticed that the taste and smell she was sensing earlier seemed stronger now. The blue looked cold, but it felt warm and even comforting. It asking her to go into it. Beckoning her and pulling her in gently by the hand. It felt like a warm blanket on a soft bed. If she wanted, Suri could have curled up and slept inside of the blue forever.

Sluggishly, as though moving through water, she continued passing through the living quarters. She passed by the rooms. As she did, she found herself looking into the windows. The first window she passed, she saw not the interior of someone's room. What she saw was a dining area. After a moment, she recognized it from Vault 101. People filled the diner and balloons and other birthday decorations were strewn around.

As she scanned the room, she recognized the faces of Old Lady Palmer, Amata's father, Amata herself, and everyone else from Vault 101. Near the back, she saw a young Butch DeLoria fighting with a young girl. Suri watched in awe, this replay of the celebration of the start of her 10th year in the vault. She stepped away from the window and kept moving.

Another window passed her by. Looking in, she didn't see as much of a commotion as the previous one. In this room, was a man, his back facing her. His hands were at his throat, as though he were choking. The man slowly turned to look at Suri. For the first time since that day, Suri was face to face with her father. He placed his hand against the window, looking into her eyes. Suri placed her hand to the window, against his. He began speaking, but Suri couldn't hear his words. Then he fell to the ground, disappearing into the blue.

She backed away slow, the memory of that day welling up inside her. She felt herself bump into someone standing behind her. She turned, ready to defend herself if it was another attacker. But instead, there stood Amata, the age she was the day Suri had to leave the vault. She stood there, staring Suri down with her arms folded across her chest, "What are you doing here?" Her words were shaprp as spoke, pricking deep into Suri's heart. "You were told to leave."

"I wasn't…I didn't mean to, I just…" Suri stammered out.

"You didn't mean to? You just accidentally snuck back in?"

"Amata, I just…I wanted to see you again." Suri was no longer in control of her words, as if they had gained a will of their own.

"No one is ready for you to come back. Not even me."

"Amata…"

"Get out, Suri. You aren't wanted here. Not yet."

"When will I be?"

"…I don't know."

Suri was silent. She slumped down against the wall behind her. Unable to hold them back in this moment, tears began streaming down her face. Amata disappeared without Suri seeing it.

Suri was suddenly overtaken by the sense she was being watched from afar. She looked up, towards the end of the hall. She saw the person watching her from around the corner, peeking nervously. She couldn't see all of their face, but it was clearly a little kid. When the kid saw her look at them, they ducked behind the corner. Suri stood up, "Hey! Wait!"

She took off down the hall after them. They always seemed to be one step ahead of her. Just when she thought she was going to see them in full, or get a glimpse of their face…she didn't. They were around another corner. She picked up her pace, running faster. She was closer to the kid now, seeing them clearly in arm's reach. She grabbed them by the shoulder and spins them around. The child was a young girl, about 10 years old. Suri stared at them a little blankly. She was greeted with another familiar face, but one she did not expect to see. Her own.

"What are you doing here?" Suri asked, curiously.

The young Suri was silent for a moment. She spoke softly, with a comforting look in her eyes, "I wanted to see what I'm like when I'm grown up."

Suri paused for a moment. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "And…what are you like?"

The young Suri's eyes dimmed slightly, looking forlorn and regretful, "…I seem very sad. Like I'm very lonely."

Suri was silent.

The young Suri continued, "I don't want to be sad. I'm not going to be sad. So…you shouldn't be sad, either."

With nothing left to say, the young Suri ran off down the hall and disappeared into the blue. As if she were the source, the blue suddenly disappeared. Suri's mind fell back to reality, like a bird suddenly losing the ability to fly. The daze slowly faded she found herself standing in the desolate hall.

Suri wandered through the winding halls of the living quarters, making her way back up to the upper level. She passed through the hall of offices and crossed into the entrance area of the vault. She stepped over through the open door. As she left, she hit the switch on the panel next to her, closing the vault door. The familiar metal clanks, winding gears and piercing screech of metal twisting sounded behind her as she walked to the door. She passed through the wood door, leaving Vault 106 without ever looking back.


End file.
